Drossin Dominates in 10,000

Deena Drossin, the 30-year-old who trains in Mammoth Lakes and, over the last couple years, has dominated U.S. distance running, made it look easy Thursday in the 10,000 meters, cruising to victory by 30 meters.

In the late-night wrap-up to the first day of the four-day U.S. track and field national championships, Drossin -- who set a U.S. women’s record in the marathon earlier this year and who, last year on this same Stanford track, set the U.S. 10,000-meter mark -- finished in 31:28.97.

The time was more than half a minute slower than last year’s record.

But Drossin was hardly pushed; Elva Dryer was second in 31:35.74.

“It’s always nice to come back to Palo Alto and Stanford,” Drossin said afterward over the track’s public-address system.

In the men’s 10,000 meters, Alan Culpepper, the 1999 champ, outdueled two-time winner -- and U.S. record-holder -- Mebrahtom Keflezighi.

Culpepper finished in 27:55.36, Keflezighi in 27:57.59.

The winning time was more than 40 seconds off Keflezighi’s record, but Culpepper said, “I just wanted to come and race and do my best to win this race. I didn’t care about the time, honestly.”

In the preliminary rounds of the men’s 100 meters, world record holder Tim Montgomery ran the fastest time of four heats, 10.04 seconds.

-- Alan Abrahamson